U-Pick is a critical direct marketing approach for many of our farms and provides
customers with a unique connection to fresh produce grown close to home. In light
of what we understand about the spread of COVID-19, new management practices
will be needed to protect your farm team and your customers. This document
provides recommended practices and communication strategies for U-Pick
operations for the 2020 season.

The PowerPoint file and link to the YouTube video of the January 2019 Grants for Farmers Webinar

The heroin and opioid epidemic has spread across the country in the last decade, and overdose deaths in rural areas are now surpassing those in urban areas. Access to prevention, treatment, and support services are typically lacking in rural or farming communities, leading to untreated addiction and increased overdose deaths. Additionally, recent reports show that those who work in occupations with higher rates of injury (farming, construction, roofing, etc.) where workers are less able to take time off to heal are more likely to medicate acute or chronic pain symptoms with opioids, leading to increased likelihood of addiction (MADPH, 2018).  

As a fruit and vegetable farmer, labor is one of your most important resources but being a manager also exposes you to risks.  To help prepare you for the 2019 growing season, the Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team, in collaboration with the Cornell Small Farms Program and the Cornell Ag Workforce Development Program and the Cornell Farmworker Program, is offering many opportunities for farmers and farm managers to improve their skills and gain important information in labor management this winter.

A 2017 report by USDA-AMS and the University of Kentucky is highlighting key trends in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in the United States and these trends are echoed in data I have collected on CSA farms in Eastern New York.  In Community Supported Agriculture - New Models for Changing Markets the authors Timothy Woods, Matthew Ernst, and Debra Tropp surveyed 495 CSAs in the USA and then conducted case-studies of six CSAs.  They found several changes compared to a national CSA survey, conducted in 20012.  They found (1) increasing competition, from other CSAs and from other market channels (2) increasing focus on customer service and choice and (2) growth of multi-farm and alternative types of CSAs.  They also found a decline in the number of certified organic CSAs.  In 2001 49% of CSA farms were certified organic.  In the 2017 survey only 27% were certified organic. These trends are echoed in data I collected on 106 CSAs in Eastern NY in 2017 and 20183 (Figure 1).  For example, I found that 26% of Eastern New York CSAs were USDA Certified Organic, like the national percentage. 

Smart Farming Teams

The Cornell Small Farm's Program Labor Ready Farmer Project is offering grants to provide up to 12 hours of Technical Assistance (TA) consulting services to farms who want to make improvements to their farm's processes in hiring, training, managing or evaluating employees. Applicants will choose from one of the following four areas for TA assistance and identify a specific project. If selected they will be matched with a "Smart Farming Team" of consultants who will provide one on one technical assistance.  Eligible applicants are: Beginning Farmers (10 or fewer years in farm ownership); NextGen Farmers (family members working on existing farms who are in line for succession, but do not own the farm yet - a NextGen farmer who has fewer than 10 years of farm ownership on a family farm could apply as a Beginning Farmer); Existing farm managers on a farm who is being groomed for succession of the farm or who plans to start their own farm - with the support of the farm owner.  There is also support for Latino farm workers who are looking to move into managerial roles on farms.

Application Deadline: Please Submit by January 31, 2019

Apple growers in New York are starting to see a new crop insurance option in some counties, Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO). I had a couple of questions about it in Ulster County last fall. Now that we are nearing time to sign up for crop insurance again, let's dig in a little deeper - what is SCO and why might you consider it?

This handout provides resources for starting a farm business.

Looking for a new farmers market to sell to this year? This is a listing of all farmers markets located in the 17 county region that the ENYCHP covers for 2018.

A good time to make New Year's resolutions is at the start of the new growing season. This year why don't you try adopting one or more of the following 8 key management strategies of good managers on your farm.